Aaron Lewis brings old country sound and a refreshed career to Elsinore on Sept. 21

Aaron Lewis, former frontman of rock band Staind, will bring his solo country act to Salem

"Story of My Life," off Aaron Lewis' most recent album "Sinner," is a rambling tune that leaves his story undefined. But to look at the trajectory of his career, it seems clear that the story of his life is one big cycle and, two albums into a rock-country genre flip, he's come back to where he started.

"It’s the soundtrack to my entire childhood. Every good memory that I have, there’s country music in the background," Lewis said. “I’ve certainly seen a bunch of circles in my career.”

Aaron Lewis, founding member of the rock band Staind performs his brand of country 8 p.m. Sept. 21 ...more

Aaron Lewis, founding member of the rock band Staind performs his brand of country 8 p.m. Sept. 21 at the Elisnore Theatre. $32 to $47.

Special to the Statesman Journal

Lewis, former frontman for post-grunge rock outfit Staind (famous for "It's Been a While"), released his second album as a solo country artist last fall. As his career path has transitioned, Lewis has been playing less and less of his old music. Fans in attendance of his Sept. 21 show at the Elsinore Theatre in Salem can expect a lot of twang, and not a lot of rock. Lewis is ready to move on.

"I was sick of reliving all of my worst things in my childhood, that was the fuel for my lyrical content in Staind. It got freaking old after a while," he said. “Then it becomes a prison cell.”

His work with Staind, seven albums worth, fell into a cycle, too. The band's last, self-titled release was a return to the group's original, heavier sound, although the band had always striven to retain who they were, even as rock music shifted tone in the 2000s.

"The landscape of music has changed underneath my feet many, many times since my career has started," Lewis said. "We were never the band to be a chameleon and reinvent ourselves. We always wrote music for us."

Lewis is doing the same with his solo work, putting out "four chords and the truth" even in a country genre that is now less defined by highwaymen and heartbreak and more by pick-up trucks and Budweiser.

“I have no problem with any of them. I have a problem with the music their record labels are forcing them to record and give to radio that is just completely foreign to the genre," Lewis said. "The country genre is so watered down at this point that it’s unrecognizable as the genre that it was.”

Lewis is doing his part to bring it back with chart-crawling hits and cross-country touring. It's also been an opportunity for him to write on subjects he wouldn't have been able to otherwise, like in the soft acoustic riffing of "Endless Summer."

"I could never in a million years have written a song about taking my daughters to the beach on the weekend with Staind and had it go over properly," Lewis laughed.

He said it's been a little strange performing under just his own name, but he deals with the more-focused fame, taking pictures with fans and waving in the airport.

It's all a pretty big leap from the rural areas of Vermont he grew up in, where a move from trailer park to suburbs convinced him he was living the American Dream. Decades of touring have introduced him to a lot since then.

"There have been so many shows, so much traveling, and so much has happened in the last 20 years. It’s really kind of hard to pinpoint memories," he said, thinking back on past tours.

As for his visits to Oregon, he recalled the natural beauty of the area. Like with a lot of his life, it had felt familiar.

“It’s beautiful. It’s very similar to what it looks like where I grew up," Lewis said. "The Northeast is very similar to the Northwest.”